Two-section picker



June 5, R928.

H. J. MONTY TWO-SECTION PICKER Filed Oct. 18, 1927 2 SheetsSheet 1 \nv'enTon Henryd. MonTy by/w-JMIM ATTys.

June's, 192s. 1,672,536

- H. J. MONTY TWO-SECTION PICKER Filed Oct. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.3.

33 i 5 2S 30 H 37 Henry L). MonTy b /wbwkw Patented I June 5, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs.

HENRY J.-HONTY, OI LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

TWO-SECTION 1 noun.

Application and mm 18, 1027. Serial Io. 226,979.

which shall reduce the number of pie 'ng' operations necessary to produce a high grade lap, and which shall produce alap having a uniform-weight per unit length.

The object of the invention is further to provide a two-section picker in which the lap is passed directly from the first sectlon to the second section with the continuity of the lap maintained, with the lap under proper I tension, and with the lap delivered to the second section with a substantially constant weight per unit length.

hese and other objects of the inventlon will appear more fully from the accompanying description and draw ngs and wlll be articularly pointed out in the cla ms. sthe'invention has to do only w1th the handling of the lap in its passage between the two sections of a two-sectlon plcker and as icker mechanisms of various forms wlth their driving connections are well known and familiar to those skilled in the art,,1t will be sufli'cient to employ herein a diagrammatic, illustration of an ordinary type of picker mechanism while illustrating more m detail the new parts selected-as a simple and preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 isa diagrammatic view of'a picker-- mechanism including an automatic feeder, 4o

picker, afinishing pic er, the latter two constituting the two-section picker with WhlCh the invention is particularly concerned, and a mechanism embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a; top plan view ofcertain elements 'directly'concerned with the taking up of slack in the lap.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, with some of the usual drivin connections and other familiar parts omitte showing an evener mechanism and slack-controlling mechanism embodying a preferred, form of the invention.

through'the feed rolls 10, is broken up by ce ives the fibre from therbrea er 13, passes it to the ca I of a .loose ap through the feed rolls 15 to an opener or breaker icker, an intermediate I Fig. 4 is a detail of another form of the slack-controlling feature.

The invention may be employed in connection with various forms of plcking mechanism.' In Fig. 1 there is shown a mechanism comprising an automatic'feeder 1, an

opener or breaker picker 2, an intermediate picker 3 and a finishing picker 4. Each of 00 these sections will be recognized from the diagrammatic view as of a familar type.

The fibre such as cotton or wool is placed in the automatic feeder 1 and dischar ed therefrom 'on to the feeding apron 5 of t e opener ea 'or .breaker picker section 2. From this apron it passes under the control of a familiar type of evener mechanism 6 to the breaker 7, shown as of'the rcupine type, where I it is broken up and t ence delivered to the cages 8 where it is passed throughthe feeding rolls 9 in the form of a loose lap. This loose lap then passes to the intermediate picker section 3. It enters this section the breaker 11 and thence passed to the cages v 12 and from these is again taken in the form of a loose lap. The finishin picker A; re-- s 14 and delivers it in the form so the usual lap forming mechanism'16 where it is compressed and wound up ready for carding or other subsequent operations.

his highly important that the finished lap shall be uniform throng out and present, so far as possible, a con ant, uniform weight per unit length so that ever square yard, for example, shall be ,of t e same I weight and have the fibre uniformly distributed throughout.

It will be seen that the only mechanism employed for controllin the character and. weightof the lap thus ar mentioned is the evener mechanism 6 which acts upon the fibre as it'enters the breaker picker 2. But the fibre at, this stage is only partially opened 11 and separated and is very unevenly distributed, so that the lap dis-- charged from the intermediate picker 3 is still far from uniform in its character.

' Heretofore the common practice has been to introduce an opener between the inter-' inediate picker and the finishing picker,

which acts to destroy the lap between these sections; 7 In this invention the continuity of the lap is preserved in its assage from the intermediate to the finis ing picker or between the sections of a two-section picker, an'd this lap is introduced to the finishing picker or the second section in its lap form. In this invention the thickness of the lap throughout its width as it passes to the second or finishing picker section is controlled to maintain constant, so faras possible, the amount fed per unit length to this second section. This means that there will be more or less slack in the lap in its passage between thetwo sections which, by reason of the soft, loose character of the lap, would result in its breaking apart or otherwise losing itsv continuity. The invention therefore provides for the takin up of such slack in the lap, thus maintaining the continuity of the lap and preserving the proper tension on the lap.

The invention, in the referred form illustrated, therefore provi es between the two sections of a two-section figure, as'betweentheintermediate picker 3 and the fin shing picker 4, an evener mechanism and a slackcontrolling mechanism,-'with the slack-com trolling mechanism preferably under the control ofthe evener mechanism. At the discharge end of the intermediate picker 3,

the lap passes between feed rolls 17 and418.

I From thence it passes over the slack-controlling element, under a guide'roll 19, on to a feed apron 20 and thence from this feed apron between a feed roll 21 and cooperating evener shoes 22, and from thence into the breaker 13 of the second picker section, in this case the finishing picker 4'. The feed roll 21 and'the apron 20 are driven together and the speed thereof is controlledby an evener mechanism herein shown as of a generally familiar type and illustrated more in detail in Fig. 3. The slack-controlling element. 23 is a vertically movable support which may of which are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4 and in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively, but in either case, in the preferred form of'the invention, the vertical movement of this support is con-- trolled by vthe evener mechanism so that the slack in the la is taken u movement of t is 'sup rtr1n coordination with the speed of the eed' roll 21 and feeding a ion 20.

Re errin now to Fig. 3, there is shown sulficient o an evener mechanism of a generally familiar type to make clear the additions and modifications .suitable for an embodiment of the present invention. The feed roll 21 and feeding a ron 20 are driven at the same surface speed y connections, not

take different forms, two

by a vertical shown, from the shaft 24. This shaft is picker beneath the feed roll 21 in the usual manner, form the shorter arms of a series of levers 290 fulcrumed at 29. The resultant movements of these levers is transmitted through the usual connections 30 to raise.

or lower the lever 31 in accordance with the average thicknessof the lap passing between the feed roll 21 and the row of shoes 22. The movement of the lever 31 is transmitted by the link 32 adjustably connected to the arm 33 of the bell crank lever fulcrumed at 34 and having its other arm 35 presenting a gear segment 36 engaging teeth on the underside of a rack bar 37 mounted for horizontal movement. This rack bar 37 carries an arm 38'embracing the belt 26. All ofthis mechanism specifically considered is of .a familiar type and it will be seen that 'accordin asthe average thickness .of the lap passlng between'the feed roller 21 and the shoes 22 increases or decreases .as compared with the desired normal thickness, the belt 26 is shifted correspondingly to decrease or increase the speed of the feed roll 21 and the feeding apron 20 and thus acts to maintain constant the weight per unit length of the lamp'being fed past the feed roll 21.

To this mechanism is added, inthe constructionshown in Figs. 2 and 3, a shaft 39 extending transversely of the picker. This shaft has secured thereto a gear 40 meshing with teeth on the upper side of the rackbar 37 and also has secured thereto pinions 41 "meshing with rack bars 42 mounted for vertical movement one at each side of the machine. These rack bars which thus move in unison have journalled, therein'at their upper ends the roll 43 which extends across and beneaththe lap about midway between the feed rolls 17 and 18, discharging the lap from the first picker section and the guidevroll 19 and rear end of the apron'c20 which take the lap and pass it on to the second picker section. It-will thus be seen that the vei'tical movement of the supporting roll- 43 is effected by and depends upon the movement of the rack bar 37 andconsequently is controlled by the thickness of the lap passing the feed roll 21.. The construction is so arranged that any slack in the lap after it is discharged from the firstpicker section by the feeding rolls 17 and 18 1s taken up by the requisite bodily vertical "movement of the roll 43. In the preferred sults in a vertical movementwof theroll 43 suflicient to take up this slack. The speed of the entire picking mechanism is so adfiusted that the feeding roll 21 and feeding 6 apron 20 will not take more lap than is' delivered by the feed rolls 17 and 18 so that I the vertical movement of the supporting roll 43 takes place between the point where its top surface is in line with the top surface of the feedingapron 20 of the roll 18 and a point vertical thereabove sufiicient to take /care of the maximum slack in the lap. In Fig. 3 this roll is shown at a mid or normal position. i5 It is desirable that the surface of the support'for taking up the slack such as the roll 43 shall move with the lap and consequently the roll 43 is shown as freely revoluble on its journals. But it may also be 20 desirable under some circumstances to have thesupporting surface positively driven to cause it to travel with the lap. A construction for this purpose is shown in Figs. 1 and"- 4 wherein the rack bars 42 have journalled therein, instead of the single roll 43, a pair of vertically spaced rolls 44 and 45 extending across and beneath the lap with an endless apron 46 on said rolls. This apron is positively driven so as to have substantially the same surface speed as that of the lap and thus travel forward with the lap. The drive of the apron may be secured in any suitable way, as, for example, by a belt 47 running over pulleys of the same size on the feed roll shaft 18 and the shaft of the roll 45. A suitable tension idler 48 must be provided because of the bodily movement of the apron with respect to the. roll 18.

Thetravel of the fibre through the apparatus is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 and a portion of its path of travel at the place where the slack occurs is indicated in dotted lines 49 in Fig. 3 and again in full lines at 50 in Fig. 4.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be'secured by Letters Patent, is; 1

1. A picker com rising two-sections, an-

evener mechanism or the lap passing from the first section to the second section and means for automatically taking up the slack in the lap between the first section and the evener mechanism, thereby to maintain .constant the weight per unit length of the lap fed to thefirst section and to. maintain the continuity of the-lap under a proper tension in its passage from the first'section to the evener mechanism.

-2.,A picker com rising two sections an evener mecha'nizm or the lap assing the first section to the second section and means controlled by theevenermechanism for automatically taking up the slack in the lap between the first section and the evener mechanism, thereby to maintain constant from f the Weight per unit length of the lap fed to' the second section and to maintain the con-j tinuity of the lap under a proper tension in its passage from the first section to the evener mechanism.

3. A picker comprising two-sections, an

evener mechanism for the lap passing from.

"ond section both for varying the feed of the lap to the second section to maintain constant the weight per unit length fed and for taking up any slack in the lap resulting from the. variation in feed to maintain the contiunity of the lap under proper tension.

4. A picker comprising two-sections, ,a feed'roll at the entrance to the second section, .evener shoes cooperating with the feed roll, a pair of feed rolls at the discharge end of the first section, an endless feed apron for passing the lap from the discharging feed rolls of the first section to the cooperating feed roll and evener shoes, a guide roll above the rear end of the feed apron, a support extending across and beneath the lap between the discharging feed rolls of the first section and the rear end of said feed apron, and mechanism controlled by the evener shoes for simultaneousl varying the speed of the feed roll and fee in apron and for moving the support vertical y to maintain constant the weight of the lap per unit length fed to the second section and the continuit and tension of the lap between the discharging feed rolls of the first section and the apron.

5. A picker comprising two-sections, means for feeding the lap from the first section, means for feeding the lap to the second section, an evener mechanism for the latter feeding means, a support extending across and beneath the lap between the two feeding means, and means for raising and lowering the support in coordination with each de;

crease and increase in the speed of the means for feeding the lap to the second section whereby a continuous lap is passed from the first section to the second section and fed to the second section with a substantially constant weight per unit-length.

6. A picker having the construction defined in claim 5, together with means for moving the surface of the support engaged by the lap forward with the lap.

7. A picker having the construction defined in claim 5, together with means for moving the surface of the support engaged by the lap forward therewith at the same surface speed as that of the means for feeding the lap from the first section.

, 8. A picker comprising two-sections, means for feeding the la from the first section, means for feeding t e lap to the second section, an evener mechanism for the latter feeding means, a pair of vertically spaced rolls extending across and beneath the lap between the two feeding means, an endless apron on said rolls and means for bodily raising and lowering said rolls and apron in 6 coordination with each decrease and increase in thespeed of the means for feeding the lap fined in claim 8, together with means for driving one of said rolls acting to move the In testimony whereof, I have signed my 1 name to this specification.

HENRY J. MONTY. 

